November 30, 2009 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Monday, November 30, 2009

November 30, 2009 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:57 PM :: 9907 Views

Catholic and evangelical Protestant leaders hope to use the civil unions issue for political gains

Catholic and evangelical Protestant leaders hope to push Hawaii politics rightward, preparing an election-year effort in 2010 to organize their parishioners into voting blocks that can help elect like-minded candidates. And they are hoping to use the issue of civil unions to get them there....

Aiona has made no secret of his strong religious convictions nor his conservative views on social issues, including opposition to civil unions, gay marriage and abortion. He has attended religious rallies and in 2004 told a prayer gathering that "Hawaii belongs to Jesus." He also has insisted his faith will not interfere with his duties.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who wants the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, supports abortion rights, civil unions and gay marriage. A potential primary election foe, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, has refused to reveal his positions on those issues....

The goal of the effort -- dubbed "The 80/80 Vision" -- is to persuade 80 percent of Christian churchgoers to register to vote and then persuade 80 percent of them to vote "Christian values" on abortion, gay rights, euthanasia and other issues....

Cayetano: Rail system still faces many hurdles

"I don't hide my ambition," Mayor Mufi Hannemann once said. That became evident when he awarded a $486 million construction contract to Kiewit Pacific Co. The contract "formally encumbers rail transit funds" Hannemann declared and "(t)herefore it cannot be shifted or used by anyone for any other purposes."

Not quite — the contract is not encumbered until construction begins and that should not happen until the Environmental Impact Statement is approved by Gov. Linda Lingle and authorized signatories such as the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Thereafter, the Federal Transit Administration must give final approval of the EIS and issue a Record of Decision before construction can begin. At any time, the state Legislature could either pass a law to divert the one-half percentage point general excise tax to the state general fund or to terminate the tax permanently. (In case you haven't noticed, Cayetano backs Neil Abercrombie for governor)

EXPLAINED: Good News: A small elite no longer runs Hawaii -- Bad News: Mufi thinks he can change that

SB: Global warming treaty would be ~~major success~~ bad joke (Lord Gore threatens us with 'hurricane-force winds")

Climategate is still not news in the Star-Bulletin or Advertiser. That is because they are continuing to dream of an endless flow of subsidy money for bogus clean energy projects so they continue to peddle garbage like this: "...heavy rains, hurricane-level winds, higher sea levels, eroding shorelines and the loss of nesting and nursing habitat...."

REALITY: Climategate , Furloughs: Advertiser sides with “sustainability” billionaires against “Save our Sports”

ADV: Hawaii State budget to suffer major hit from Obamacare

Here's the key line: "U.S. senators from 14 states — including Hawai'i — also have complained that their states, which provide more coverage than the federal government requires, could initially receive less federal support than other states that are lagging and need to catch up."

Car thief suspect was guilty in the past

Sales was charged last night with first-degree attempted murder, two counts of second-degree attempted murder, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, and first-degree robbery. His bail was set at $250,000.

Sales pleaded guilty on May 15 to unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, fleeing the scene of a traffic accident and driving without a license.

A judge granted Sales' request in July for the opportunity to have the auto theft charge dismissed by deferring his guilty plea for five years. Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall ordered Sales to spend 59 days in jail as a condition of the deferral.

Crandall also sentenced Sales to 10 days in jail for fleeing the scene of a traffic accident and 30 days for driving without a license. Sales has two previous traffic citations for driving without a valid driver's license.

Beach ownership is still in question

"It used to be the law that if the beach got larger or smaller, the property owner would either gain or lose based on that," said Laura P. Couch, another attorney representing Maunalua Bay Beach Ohana 28. "Act 73 changed that and said if the beach gets larger it belongs to the state. It converted a shifting boundary into a fixed boundary. And because the landowners have always had a vested right in the shifting boundary, that's why there was a taking."

Circuit Judge Eden Hifo agreed, ruling that the law "represented a sudden change in the common law and effected an uncompensated taking of, and injury to, littoral owners' accreted land and ... right to ownership of future accreted land."

In its appeal the state argued that no "taking" occurred, because the law did not take any property from oceanfront landowners, but merely took away the "hope" of acquiring future, newly deposited beachfront land "if and when the accretions stayed in existence for 20 years." Private property owners still retain their land and its access to the ocean, Deputy Attorney General Girard Lau told the court.

Education must be in battle plan

Local residents gather on the rubble of a damaged girls high school, wrecked by suspected militants last month in Karigar Garhi village in Pakistan. Militants target girls schools as they oppose education for females.